Physical health status of music students in a post-secondary institution: A cross-sectional study

Work ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Allen Ying-Lun Chang ◽  
Hannah Boone ◽  
Phil Gold

BACKGROUND: Musicians’ health is an essential field of healthcare that is specifically tailored to the needs of musicians, which encompasses multiple facets of health. OBJECTIVE: The research seeks to determine the prevalence of physical injuries in music students and musicians, and to identify possible causes. METHODS: A previously unvalidated 42-item survey was distributed to music students, non-music students, and professional musicians. The questions addressed demographics, physical health, mental health, medication use, and interest in musicians’ health. The study was conducted from Fall semester 2017 to Winter semester 2019 at McGill University, with analysis completed in August 2019. RESULTS: A total of 585 complete responses were obtained. Music students (35%) had higher prevalence of physical injuries than non-music students (18%), and professional musicians had the highest prevalence (56%). Multiple factors dictate the prevalence of physical injuries among musicians, including gender, age, program of enrollment, and instrument of choice. Of note, daily duration of practice was not one of these factors. CONCLUSIONS: Several factors were identified through this cross-sectional analysis to be associated with musicians’ physical injuries. These findings can serve as a foundation through which physicians and post-secondary institutions may implement changes to better enhance the physical health of musicians. It also cast doubts on previous assumptions associated with physical injury of musicians.

2021 ◽  
pp. 089198872110026
Author(s):  
Sivan Klil-Drori ◽  
Natalie Phillips ◽  
Alita Fernandez ◽  
Shelley Solomon ◽  
Adi J. Klil-Drori ◽  
...  

Objective: Compare a telephone version and full version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of a prospective study. A 20-point telephone version of MoCA (Tele-MoCA) was compared to the Full-MoCA and Mini Mental State Examination. Results: Total of 140 participants enrolled. Mean scores for language were significantly lower with Tele-MoCA than with Full-MoCA (P = .003). Mean Tele-MoCA scores were significantly higher for participants with over 12 years of education (P < .001). Cutoff score of 17 for the Tele-MoCA yielded good specificity (82.2%) and negative predictive value (84.4%), while sensitivity was low (18.2%). Conclusions: Remote screening of cognition with a 20-point Tele-MoCA is as specific for defining normal cognition as the Full-MoCA. This study shows that telephone evaluation is adequate for virtual cognitive screening. Our sample did not allow accurate assessment of sensitivity for Tele-MoCA in detecting MCI or dementia. Further studies with representative populations are needed to establish sensitivity.


Author(s):  
Ntiense Macaulay Utuk ◽  
Anyiekere Ekanem ◽  
Aniekan Monday Abasiattai

Background: Antenatal care is one of the four pillars of safe motherhood and its benefits in preventing adverse feto-maternal outcome is proven. Commencement of antenatal care early has been shown to be key for this benefit to be fully realized. The aim of this study was to determine the antenatal booking pattern of pregnant women and its determinants in our environment.Methods: A cross sectional study of women attending the booking clinic in the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Akwa Ibom State, Southern Nigeria over a three-month period.Results: The mean age of the respondents was 28.5 years. The mean gestational age at booking was 18.3 weeks. The majority of the patients were married (94.1%). 68.1% had a post-secondary education. 33.5% of patients were nultiparous, while 3.5% were grand multiparous. The majority of patients (72.4%) booked late for antenatal care. Age group, marital status, mode of delivery was not significantly associated with timing of booking. High levels of patient’s education, high levels of husband’s education as well as grand multiparity were significantly associated with late booking (P<0.05). Majority (65.4%) of patients claimed that it was safe to book at any time during pregnancy.Conclusions: The majority of women booked late for antenatal care. In our study, we have found that general and health education, subsidisation of cost for antenatal care and introduction of focused antenatal care will help to reverse this trend.


2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
José CR Glória ◽  
Amanda A Balestra ◽  
Nayara S Iasbik ◽  
Dhelfeson W Douglas-de-Oliveira ◽  
Olga D Flecha ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to identify the prevalence of orofacial changes and factors associated with the frequent playing of wind instruments by musicians in Diamantina, Minas Gerais, Brazil. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 40 professional musicians who played wind instruments. The musicians filled out questionnaires about their habits and musical career. The Research Diagnostic Criteria were applied to investigate temporomandibular disorders. Other oral parameters examined included periodontal status, plaque index, and decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMF) index. A significance level of p<0.05 was adopted for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The population included 22 (55%) men and 18 (45%) women, with a mean age of 25.88 yrs. The most common instruments played were the saxophone (n=12, 30%), clarinet (n=9, 22.5%), and flute (n=6, 15%). The most frequent pain complaint after playing was numbness in the upper lip or no sensation (25% of musicians), and the most frequent dental change observed was inclination of the upper teeth (15% of musicians). There was no significant association between dental changes, pain, and classification of instrument type. CONCLUSION: The main oral change that affected musicians who played wind instruments was the inclination of anterior teeth.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. e049716
Author(s):  
Timothy D Dye ◽  
Monica Barbosu ◽  
Shazia Siddiqi ◽  
José G Pérez Ramos ◽  
Hannah Murphy ◽  
...  

BackgroundDeterminants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance are complex; how perceptions of the effectiveness of science, healthcare and government impact personal COVID-19 vaccine acceptance is unclear, despite all three domains providing critical roles in development, funding and provision, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccine.ObjectiveTo estimate impact of perception of science, healthcare systems, and government along with sociodemographic, psychosocial, and cultural characteristics on vaccine acceptance.DesignWe conducted a global nested analytical cross-sectional study of how the perceptions of healthcare, government and science systems have impacted COVID-19 on vaccine acceptance.SettingGlobal Facebook, Instagram and Amazon Mechanical Turk (mTurk) users from 173 countries.Participants7411 people aged 18 years or over, and able to read English, Spanish, Italian, or French.MeasurementsWe used Χ2 analysis and logistic regression-derived adjusted Odds Ratios (aORs) and 95% CIs to evaluate the relationship between effectiveness perceptions and vaccine acceptance controlling for other factors. We used natural language processing and thematic analysis to analyse the role of vaccine-related narratives in open-ended explanations of effectiveness.ResultsAfter controlling for confounding, attitude toward science was a strong predictor of vaccine acceptance, more so than other attitudes, demographic, psychosocial or COVID-19-related variables (aOR: 2.1; 95% CI: 1.8 to 2.5). The rationale for science effectiveness was dominated by vaccine narratives, which were uncommon in other domains.LimitationsThis study did not include participants from countries where Facebook and Amazon mTurk are not available, and vaccine acceptance reflected intention rather than actual behaviour.ConclusionsAs our findings show, vaccine-related issues dominate public perception of science’s impact around COVID-19, and this perception of science relates strongly to the decision to obtain vaccination once available.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhengyan Cheng ◽  
Ping Shuai ◽  
Qichuan Qiao ◽  
Tingxin Li

Abstract Background In China, many people are apt to participate in regular physical examination as a precaution. Some simplified food frequency questionnaire have been designed and used. However, the effectiveness of questionnaire is absent. This study was conducted to examine the reliability and validity of simplified food frequency questionnaire (SFFQ) used among physical examination adults in southwest region of China. Methods This study was a cross sectional study among physical health examination adults in Southwest region of China. A total of 239 participants aged 20-65 were conducted during February to June in 2019. The performance of the SFFQ was evaluated by the mean of three-day 24-hour dietary recalls (3R24). The relative validity and agreement was assessed by the Pearson`s correlation and intra-class correlation coefficients(ICC) respectively. Results The median energy-adjusted ICC of food groups between SFFQ2 and SFFQ1 was 0.59 (range: 0.49-0.73) and the ICC of nutrients was 0.47(range: 0.39-0.76). The Pearson correlation showed the validity between the SFFQ1 and 3R24, which ranged from -0.086 to 0.93 for food and and 0.21 to 0.71 for nutritions, respectively. Energy-adjustment slightly increased the correlation coefficients. Conclusions The reliability and validity of the SFFQ was acceptable. It could be an appropriate dietary assessment tool for future epidemiological studies in physical health examination adults among Chinese in southwest China.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gayani P. Gamage ◽  
H.M.Chulani J. Herath

PurposeMental health is as important as physical health and new university entrants report high prevalence of depression. In open and distance learning (ODL), students must manage both work and studies. Those who are unable to effectively balance these aspects may experience negative outcomes such as dropping out, distress and physical health problems. Therefore, the study aims to investigate psychological distress amongst distance-learning undergraduate students to gather evidence for recommending necessary interventions.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional study was conducted using depression, anxiety, stress scale (DASS-21). Participants were undergraduate students from the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL). The students' socio-demographic details, history of physical and mental illnesses were also recorded.FindingsAccording to scoring, 51% of the sample was categorised as “psychologically distressed” relating to the anxiety levels they reported whilst depression (35%) and stress remained (20%) at low levels. The three-factor structure of DASS-21 was also confirmed with reliability scores of 0.8 obtained for all three sub-scales.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations were low-response rate (less than 50%) and inability to provide causal explanations for psychological distress. Further research could address these.Practical implicationsThe current research identified anxiety as a psychologically distressing factor for ODL students with the use of a reliable screening tool. Therefore, exploring reasons and interventions to help reduce anxiety could be developed.Social implicationsMajority of distance learners are contributing to a country's economy whilst learning to improve their current socio-economic status. Therefore, addressing these negative impacts is important.Originality/valueThe study explored ODL students' psychological distress and highlighted the need to identify causes and development of support systems to enhance mental well-being.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra M. Rogowska ◽  
Dominika Ochnik ◽  
Cezary Kuśnierz ◽  
Karolina Chilicka ◽  
Monika Jakubiak ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Research indicates that mental health worsened during the Coronavirus crisis, in particular among women and university students. However, few longitudinal studies have so far investigated the changes in mental health outcomes across three subsequent waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study aims to examine changes in mental health among university students. Methods A total of 1,961university students from Poland, at mean age 23.23 years (SD = 3.16, 57.47% of women) were included in this repeated cross-sectional study across three waves of the COVID-19 pandemic: W1 (n = 657), W2 (n = 654), and W3 (n = 650). They completed the online survey with the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), General Self-Rated Health (GSRH), and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), as well as sociodemographic variables. Results The prevalence of people at high risk of anxiety and perceived stress, poorer physical health, and low life satisfaction changed significantly across three waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the two-way ANOVA showed that both the wave (W1<W2<W3) and gender (men<women) had a significant impact on the level of anxiety. Statistically significant changes in perceived stress were found between pandemic waves (W1>W2, W1>W3), and genders (men<women). Self-reported physical health significantly deteriorated in W3 compared to W1 and W2 (W1>W3, W2>W3), and was significantly worse in women than in men. The level of life satisfaction also decreased significantly in W3 (W1>W3, W2>W3), but did not differ between men and women. High GAD risk was presented two times more frequently among women and people who subjectively assessed their health as poor, three times more likely in participants dissatisfied with their lives, and seven times more probably in persons with high-stress levels. Conclusions The results of this study consistently indicate (using parametric and non-parametric statistical analysis) that there are significant differences in mental health problems across three waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. It suggests that pandemic waves should be considered in future review studies and meta-analyses. Furthermore, these findings indicate a potential role for prevention and intervention programs aimed at alleviating life satisfaction and subjective assessment of health and improving coping skills to reduce stress and anxiety.


BMJ Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. e023605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Lexchin

ObjectivesThis study examines the use of expedited approval pathways by Health Canada over the period 1995 to 2016 inclusive and the relationship between the use of these pathways and the therapeutic gain offered by new products.DesignCross-sectional study.Data sourcesTherapeutic Products Directorate, Biologics and Genetic Therapies Directorate, Notice of Compliance database, Notice of Compliance with conditions web site, Patented Medicine Prices Review Board, La revue Prescrire, WHO Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification system.Primary and secondary outcomesPercent of new drugs evaluated by Health Canada that went through an expedited pathway between 1995 and 2016 inclusive. Kappa values comparing the review status with assessments of therapeutic value for individual drugs.ResultsOf 623 drugs approved by Health Canada between 1995 and 2016, 438 (70.3%) drugs went through the standard pathway and 185 (29.7%) an expedited pathway. Therapeutic evaluations were available for 509 drugs. Health Canada used an expedited approval pathway for 159 of the 509 drugs, whereas only 55 were judged to be therapeutically innovative. Forty-two of the 55 therapeutically innovative drugs received an expedited review and 13 received a standard review. The Kappa value for the entire period for all 509 drugs was 0.276 (95% CI 0.194 to 0.359) indicating ‘fair’ agreement between Health Canada’s use of expedited pathways and independent evaluations of therapeutic innovation.ConclusionHealth Canada’s use of expedited approvals was stable over the entire time period. It was unable to reliably predict which drugs will offer major therapeutic gains. The findings in this study should provoke a discussion about whether Health Canada should continue to use these pathways and if so how their use can be improved.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adeodatus Haule ◽  
Betrand Msemwa ◽  
Evarista Mgaya ◽  
Peter Masikini ◽  
Samuel Kalluvya

Abstract Background HIV-syphilis co-infection can enhance the rapid progression of early or late latent syphilis to neurosyphilis and can cause catastrophic neurological complications. In studies in Mwanza, syphilis affects ~ 8% of healthy outpatients and studies done in the 1990s have suggested that up to 23.5% of HIV-syphilis co-infected patients also have neurosyphilis. Methodology This was a cross sectional study in which adult HIV infected patients who were hospitalized or attending the outpatient Care and Treatment Clinic (CTC) were interviewed using a structured questionnaire and screened for syphilis using serum Treponema Pallidum Hemagglutination Assay (TPHA). Blood was also taken for CD4+ T cells and viral load. Those who were found to have syphilis underwent neurological examination for any neurologic deficit and were offered a lumbar puncture. Results The prevalence of syphilis in HIV infected patients was found to be 9.6%. The majority of patients were female (72.5%) and median age was 42 years [interquartile range, 32–50]. Most patients were on ART (99.4%). In the study population of 1748 participants, 9.6% were TPHA positive; the majority (89.2%) reported not knowing their syphilis status and not previously been treated. One hundred and forty-one participants with syphilis had neurological examinations performed. Four of these had abnormal findings that necessitated a lumbar puncture. Neurosyphilis was confirmed in one patient (0.7%). Conclusion The high prevalence of syphilis in HIV infected patients indicates that there is a need to increase efforts in targeting this population to reduce sexually transmitted infections. Screening for syphilis should be done for all HIV patients given the high prevalence of the infection and the risk that aggressive forms of neurosyphilis can occur despite recovery of CD4+ T cell counts in untreated syphilis.


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